Stacey Angela Dixon (born January 9, 1971) is an American mechanical engineer and intelligence official and

Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a Cabinet of the United States#Current Cabinet and Cabinet-rank officials, cabinet-level Federal government of the United States, United States government intelligence and security official. The p ...

in the

Biden Administration Joe Biden's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 46th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Joe Biden, his inauguration on January 20, 2021, and ended on January 20, 2025. Biden, a member of the Democr ...

since August 4, 2021. According to

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...

, she was selected to serve as Acting

Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a Cabinet of the United States#Current Cabinet and Cabinet-rank officials, cabinet-level Federal government of the United States, United States government intelligence and security official. The p ...

succeeding

Avril Haines Avril Danica Haines (born August 27, 1969) is an American lawyer who served as the seventh Director of National Intelligence, director of national intelligence in the Presidency of Joe Biden, Biden administration. She is the first woman to serve ...

after President Trump was sworn in during his second inauguration on January 20, 2025.

Education

Dixon earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1993, followed by a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

in 1995 and a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

in 2000 in the same from

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

. Her doctoral thesis was entitled ''Biomechanical analysis of coronary arteries using a complementary energy model and designed experiments''. She completed a chemical engineering postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering.

Career

As an undergraduate, Dixon was an intern at

Nokia Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, commonly referred to as ''Bell Labs'', is an American industrial research and development company owned by Finnish technology company Nokia. With headquarters located in Murray Hill, New Jersey, the company operates several labo ...

. From 2003 to 2007, she worked at the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

, where she was detailed to the advanced systems and technology directorate of the

National Reconnaissance Office The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is a member of the United States Intelligence Community and an agency of the United States Department of Defense which designs, builds, launches, and operates the reconnaissance satellites of the U.S. f ...

. From 2007 to 2010, Dixon was a staffer on the

United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence The United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), also known as the House Intelligence Committee, is a committee of the United States House of Representatives, currently chaired by Rick Crawford. It is the primary comm ...

. She then joined the

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is a combat support agency within the United States Department of Defense whose primary mission is collecting, analyzing, and distributing geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) to support national se ...

and, between 2010 and 2016, served sequentially as chief of congressional and intergovernmental affairs, deputy director of corporate communications, and deputy director of NGA's research directorate. Dixon then served as the deputy director of the

Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) is an organization, within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), that is responsible for leading research to overcome difficult challenges facing the United Stat ...

from 2016 to 2018 and director from 2018 to July 2019, when she became the eighth deputy director of the

. Dixon is also a presidentially-appointed member of the Coast Guard Academy Board of Visitors, an appointed NGA Liaison to the

United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational foundation in Virginia dedicated to promoting the geospatial intelligence tradecraft and developing a stronger GEOINT Community with government, ...

Board of Directors and

Spelman College Spelman College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia ...

Center of Excellence for Minority Women in STEM Leadership Advisory Board. President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

announced plans to

nominate Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list. Political office In th ...

then-NGA Deputy Director Dixon for the position of

principal deputy director of national intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a Cabinet of the United States#Current Cabinet and Cabinet-rank officials, cabinet-level Federal government of the United States, United States government intelligence and security official. The p ...

on April 21, 2021. She was confirmed by

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "by live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by respondin ...

on August 3 and received praise from

. She was sworn in on August 4, 2021 and is the highest-ranking Black woman in the intelligence community. Dixon was replaced by President Trump as Acting Director of National Intelligence with

Lora Shiao Lora Shiao is an American government official, currently serving as the chief operating officer for the Director of National Intelligence, Office of the Director of National Intelligence since October 2020. She briefly served as acting Director o ...

, the chief operating officer for the agency. In 2024, Dixon earned her fifth Wash100 Award for advancing transparency and data use in the intelligence community.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Stacey 1971 births 21st-century African-American scientists 21st-century American engineers 21st-century American women engineers African-American engineers African-American women engineers American mechanical engineers Biden administration personnel Engineers from Washington, D.C. First Trump administration personnel Georgia Tech alumni Living people National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency people Obama administration personnel Second Trump administration cabinet members Stanford University School of Engineering alumni United States deputy directors of national intelligence